Nairobi — Kenya’s economy, East Africa’s largest, expanded at the fastest pace in five years in 2016, boosted by more construction and tourism. GDP increased 5.8% last year, the most since 2011, from a revised 5.7% in 2015, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) director general Zachary Mwangi told reporters on Wednesday. Expansion could have been more robust had it not been for a sluggish final quarter, when drought hurt farming output. Tourism grew 13.3% after contracting 1.3% in the previous year, KNBS said. Construction climbed 9.2% from 13.9% in 2015. Tourism, among the nation’s largest foreign-exchange earnings together with exports of flowers, has rebounded after an end to travel advisories by European countries that followed attacks by militant groups. Kenya is the world’s biggest black-tea exporter and agriculture, which accounts for about 25% of GDP, rose 4% from a revised 5.5% a year earlier, curbed by a drought. Manufacturing and the financial industries also expande...
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